The great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau set the standard for German lieder singing, and now the mantle surely passes to Christian Gerhaher. A wonderfully programmed sequence of the first and second Viennese schools.

The ultimate must-have for any music and Wagner lover, including highlights from all the Ring operas and featuring the stars of the recent Metropolitan Opera production: Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voigt, and Jonas Kaufmann. (2 CDs)

Focusing on works inspired by Benjamin Britten’s key collaborators including Dennis Brain, Osian Ellis, and poet Edith Sitwell, these rarely recorded works include a narration of Sitwell’s poems by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.

This set contains material from live concerts that formed an integral part of Callas’s public career alongside her stage performances. Also included is one interview CD with the American commentator Edward Downes. (9 CDs)

A sampling of the many outstanding voices captured on record by EMI over the past century in the field of Italian opera. The performance style of today has been handed down to the present day by the great singers heard in this collection. (5 CDs)

This set presents a sampling of the many outstanding voices captured on record by EMI over the past 80 years in the field of German opera, including material from the early catalogues of the Gramophone Company, British Columbia, Parlophone and Odeon. (5 CDs)

Greek mezzo-soprano, Marita Paparizou graduated with honours from the Orfeion Conservatory in Athens. With the superb I Solisti Veneti under Claudio Scimone, she sings lovely arias from the operas of Vivaldi, Handel and Bertoni.

As the sensual centerpiece of an album of 20th-century French vocal masterpieces, Renée Fleming makes her first-ever recording of Ravel's ravishing Shéhérazade, complemented by works of Messiaen and Dutilleux.